Wynton Marsalis

If you know more information about Wynton Marsalis help us to improve this page

Birthday:

18 October 1961, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Birth Name:

Wynton L. Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis is widely recognized as the pre-eminent jazz artist of our time. He is hailed not only as a performer on the trumpet, but also as a music educator and a promoter of the history and culture of jazz. Marsalis is also an established artist in performing trumpet in works of classical music, and he is a leader in civic matters.Wynton Marsalis was born into a musical family in the city of New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. Marsalis's father was a pianist and music teacher. Some of Wynton's brothers have become notable musicians in their own right, specifically Branford Marsalis on saxophone, Delfeayo Marsalis on trombone, and Jason Marsalis on drums. Wynton was a precocious student of music in his youth. He eventually attended the Juilliard School. Later he joined the band of the renowned jazz artist Art Blakey.Marsalis spent ten years touring continuously with his band. He has virtually single-handedly revived the public's interest in jazz, which to many had become a lost art form. In addition to performing, Marsalis also focuses strongly on education by giving lectures and workshops to students on musicianship.Wynton Marsalis created the PBS TV series Marsalis on Music (1995), as well as the National Public Radio 26-week series "Making the Music" in that same year. Marsalis played a major role in developing Ken Burns's TV mini-series Jazz (2001). These efforts played a significant role in helping to bring jazz forward in the public's mind.Marsalis has been criticized by some for discounting the value of jazz forms that have emerged after 1965. Marsalis has countered by stating that attempts at a musical fusion of jazz with other pop forms yields a mixture of sounds that are simply not true jazz.Wynton Marsalis has made major efforts to help revive and restore his home city of New Orleans following the disaster of hurricane Katrina, including organizing the benefit concert "Higher Ground" at Lincoln Center in New York City. Marsalis has promoted human rights for the people of Burma and their imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has declared Marsalis to be a U.N. Messenger of Peace.Marsalis has won numerous awards including nine Grammys, two of them for his recordings of classical works for trumpet by Haydn, Mozart and Handel. He is the first jazz artist to win a Pulitzer Prize, given for composing his oratorio "Blood on the Fields". Wynton Marsalis now serves as the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall in New York City. Show less «

Now, one day the entire world will be the house of everyday. That's not yet, but it's what people in the arts strive for.

Jazz is a music of conservation, and that's what you need in a democracy.

"It's warm, it's intellectual, it's spiritual, it's tawdry, it's worldly, it's provincial. Anything you want, he has it in his sound. (Comme...Show more »

"It's warm, it's intellectual, it's spiritual, it's tawdry, it's worldly, it's provincial. Anything you want, he has it in his sound. (Commenting on the influence Louie Armstrong has on Jazz). Show less «

In jazz you have the opportunity to establish your equality - based on your ability.

I know what it's really like to be called a nigger for real, by black and white people. I'm not interested in presenting that to the world a...Show more »

I know what it's really like to be called a nigger for real, by black and white people. I'm not interested in presenting that to the world as my expression. And I have to make the point to the younger people in rap, we was black in the 60s, man. We were black in 1974. We wasn't waiting for y'all to tell us what it was to be black. You're a guy from the Something Housing Project with limited education and now you're going to tell me what it means to be a black person in America? Man, you must really think you're in a video. Show less «